MIYARES: State Universities Cannot Mandate COVID Vaccine for Students
Attorney General Miyares has issued a legal opinion that Virginia’s state institutions of higher education cannot require the COVID-19 vaccine as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance.
Attorney General Miyares highlights in the opinion that “as recognized in the prior opinion, ‘[t]here is no question that the General Assembly could enact a statue requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for in-person school attendance.’
As of this writing, it has not done so.
WATCH: Fairfax Mom Stands Up for County Parents and Students
Carrie Lukas, vice president of Independent Women’s Voice and mother of five children, shared her concerns with the Fairfax County School Board last night. Lukas’s remarks focused on the current mask controversy — her own kids were suspended for not wearing facial coverings — and concluded with a plea for school choice.
“This week is known as National School Choice Week, and it’s time for Virginia to give parents like me the ability to leave this school system which very clearly doesn’t want us anyway,” Lukas said.
FCPS Orders Principals to Suspend Kids Without Masks
On Friday afternoon, January 21, as new Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin finalized guidance on his executive order allowing parental choice on whether students wear masks in school, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent went rogue and issued a 34-page “Principal Briefing” PowerPoint at a meeting with school administrators, ordering them to suspend students from school for a “Dress Code” violation if they don’t wear masks in school, according to a copy of the briefing received by Parents Defending Education.
ICYMI: Winsome Sears on ‘Fox News Primetime’
Virginia Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears joined Fox News Primetime last week to discuss a variety of issues facing our commonwealth and the nation, from the economy to education and more. “When you had governors deciding that certain businesses were essential and others weren’t, mostly mom and pops suffered. In the meantime, the big box stores stayed open,” Sears recalled. “Then you have to stay home with your child because the governors closed the schools, yet it’s interesting to me that private schools were able to figure out very quickly how to keep open while COVID was raging.”
George Mason University Should End Its Booster Mandate
A petition calling for a repeal of George Mason University’s booster mandate was sent earlier today to GMU President Gregory Washington, Rector James Hazel and the entire GMU Board of Visitors.
Created just last week, the petition has already garnered the support of over 500 GMU community members. The more than 500 signatories include students and their parents, faculty and staff, and even GMU alumni, all of whom are united in opposition to the just-announced booster mandate.
Youngkin & Miyares to Fight Unconstitutional Vaccine Mandates
Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares today announced their intent to challenge the unconstitutional vaccine mandate imposed by President Biden’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused heartbreaking health, societal, and economic loss and suffering throughout the Commonwealth and the United States. Our children have experienced severe learning loss and developmental challenges that will last decades, strained and stressed hospital systems are suffering from an historic staffing crisis, and a crippled supply chain has driven up Virginians’ cost of living.
ICYMI: GOP Blasts “Biden’s Continued COVID Failure”
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ronna McDaniel released the following statement on Biden’s continued failure to “shut down the virus” as he promised:
“Biden failed to ‘shut down the virus’ like he promised. By lying, shifting blame, and refusing to accept responsibility for his incompetence, Biden has lost all credibility and trust from the American people. Biden’s fearmongering, misinformation about Operation Warp Speed, and unconstitutional mandates will not shut down the virus.
Colin Powell, 1937 – 2021
American military hero and elder statesman Colin Powell died today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, from complications associated with COVID-19. Although fully vaccinated, Powell additionally suffered from myeloma, a cancer in plasma cells. He was 84 years old.
Over the course of 35 years, Powell served with distinction in the United States Army. When Powell retired from military service in 1993, he was a four-star general. Powell served as National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan.
Youngkin Statement on Northam-McAuliffe Mask Mandate for Kids
Today, political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for governor Glenn Youngkin issued the following statement on the Virginia Department of Health’s statewide mask mandate for K-12 schools:
“With today’s student mask mandate announcement, Ralph Northam, Terry McAuliffe and Richmond liberals have made clear that they will stop at nothing to impose their will and take away parents’ ability to decide what’s best for our kids.
What Is the FCPS Plan? Fairfax Parents Want to Know.
Teachers report to schools in less than three weeks, and students are scheduled to start in less than four weeks. However, FCPS, with an annual budget of $3.4 billion, has yet to provide families or teachers with a glimpse of the Back to School plan for school year 2021-2022. Families and teachers eager to understand what the in-person requirements will be have been left waiting as FCPS attempts to run out the clock, to convince families to re-enroll their children without showing any cards on what those children can expect to encounter in FCPS this year.